Scellan/Sketchbook

Scellan/Sketchbook is a southern Talmic language descended from Thensarian; more so than other Talmic languages, it has been influenced heavily by Classical Netagin and Clofabic languages in vocabulary and grammar. The phonology is inspired by Ashkenazi Hebrew and Portuguese.

Historical phonology

  • p t c > b d g (like Spanish)
  • -φ- > -v- while initial φ vanishes
  • b d often lenites to v z
  • Stress shift
  • 1: cêƞ /kɛ̃/
  • 2: têθôr /tɪˈsøl/
  • nis = not
  • -ācos > -âgos /ˈ-ɔgəʃ/ (verbal noun; ~ Bhadhagha -ach, Roshterian -iac?)
  • Verbs: -ƞ, -r, -0, -s, -ƞs, -sc, -đ

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal m /m/ n /n/ n [ŋ]
Plosive voiceless p /p/ t /t/ ŧ /t͡ʃ/ c /k/ (ȝ /ʔ/)1
voiced b /b/ d /d/ đ /d͡ʒ/ g /g/
Fricative voiceless f /f/ θ, ss /s/ s /ʃ/ ch /x/
voiced v /v/ z /z/ l, ħ /ʁ~h/
Approximant r /r~l/ j /j/
1 Silent in everyday speech.

Vowels

Scellan/Sketchbook vowels (oral)
Front Central Back
unrounded rounded
Close i /i/ y /y/ u /u/
Near-close [ɪ] [ʏ] [ə]
Mid e, ê /e/ ô /ø/ â, o /o/
Open [ɞ] a /a/

Scellan/Sketchbook vowels (nasal)
Front Central Back
unrounded rounded
Close
Near-close iƞ, yƞ /ɪ̃/ /ʊ̃/
Mid êƞ /ɛ̃/ ôƞ /œ̃/ [ə̃] âƞ, oƞ /ɔ̃/
Open aƞ, eƞ /ɐ̃/


Vowel reduction

Vowels are reduced in unstressed syllables.

Phoneme Reduced
/i/ [ɪ]
/y/ [ʏ]
/u/ [ʊ]
/e/ [ɪ]
/ø/ [ʏ]
/a/ [ə]
/ɔ/ [ə]
/ɐ̃/, /œ̃/ [ə̃]

Stress

Stress is marked with an acute accent.

Orthography

Scellan/Sketchbook orthography is fairly conservative compared to its pronunciation.

Morphology

Nouns

The masculine, feminine and neuter genders in Thensarian collapsed to common and neuter genders.

The definite article is .

A common noun:

mâro 'tree'
Singulative Plurative
Absolute mâro mâriη
Construct mâroz mấrous

A neuter noun:

stus 'fire'
Singulative Plurative
Absolute stus stur
Construct stuz stuus

Common: mâro, mâriη = trees

Neuter: tiηs, tiηr = hand

Neuter: stus, stur = fire

Neuter: teŧys, teŧyr = child

Verbs

Bênôcian verbs are significantly simpler than Thensarian verbs, though the multiple infinitives of Thensarian have servived.

There is no future tense.

Present indicative

Person tôssaη "I pray"
(a-stem)
torenis "I bloom, flourish"
(e-stem)
eliη "I love"
(i-stem/C-stem)
1SG tôssaη toreη eliη
2SG tôssar torer elir
3SG tôssa tore el
1PL tôssáηs toréηs elíηs
2PL tôssac torec elic
3PL tôssa tore el

Past indicative

Person tôssaη "I pray"
(a-stem)
torenis "I bloom, flourish"
(e-stem)
eliη "I love"
(i-stem/C-stem)
1SG tôssaniη toreniη eliniη
2SG tôssai torei elii
3SG tôssas tores elis
1PL tôssáηr toréηr elíηr
2PL tôssacer torecer elicer
3PL tôssas tores elis

Present subjunctive

Person tôssaη "I pray"
(a-stem)
torenis "I bloom, flourish"
(e-stem)
eliη "I love"
(i-stem/C-stem)
1SG tôssaje toreje elije
2SG tôssare torere elire
3SG tôssajor torejor elijor
1PL tôssante torente elinte
2PL tôssace torece elice
3PL tôssajor torejor elijor

Past subjunctive

Person tôssaη "I pray"
(a-stem)
torenis "I bloom, flourish"
(e-stem)
eliη "I love"
(i-stem/C-stem)
1SG tốssazoη tórezoη elizoη
2SG tốssazor tórezor elizor
3SG tôssaz torez eliz
1PL tôssazóηs torezóηs elizóηs
2PL tôssazoc torezoc elizoc
3PL tôssaz torez eliz

Infinitives

Participles

tôssaη 'pray'
Singulative Plurative
Masculine tốssai tốssaiη
Feminine tốssais tốssair
Construct tốssaiz tôssáivos

Syntax

Bênôcian syntax is VSO.